EA Audio Fiio X1 II, £99

For £99, the X1 II has a huge amount going for it. At 10cm long and weighing 106g, it’s portable, has a colour screen and an ipod-style touch-wheel. Two-way Bluetooth means you can receive a signal as well as stream from it, there’s room for a 256GB Micro SD card and it can handle files up to 192khz/32bit WAV and 192khz/24bit FLAC. All that would count for nothing if the sound didn’t deliver – while it doesn’t come close to the Astel & Kern (right) and lacks a little in the bottom end, its performance sounds anything but cheap. ea-audio.co.uk